Page 26 of The Trust We Broke
“Come with me, Lucy.” The urgency in Mom’s voice brings me back to the present.
“I’ll be right there. I just need a minute.”
My mother looks between the two of us, then walks down Main Street in a cloud of expensive perfume and judgment.
The moment she’s gone, the silence thickens between us.
“You want to tell me why that Rebel was all up in your space?” Grudge says.
“You were never the jealous type,” I blurt. Blurting is unusual for me. As a lawyer, I’m quick to filter through words to come up with the right ones. It can make the difference in the verdict going your way or not.
But with this man, all bets are off.
“You think this is jealousy?” he spits. “It’s a fucking warning, Luce. One of those bastards walked into Wraith’s home and murdered his wife and kid. You think they’ll blink coming after you?”
The words have teeth, biting into me. But I can’t relent. I can’t crumble at the reality of what he says. At the fear they bring.
After all, howdidthey know I was the lawyer’s daughter, without my father, the lawyer, even being here?
Could they be who my father has been involved with? And if so, why?
Instead of giving in to the wave of panic, I cross my arms. “Pretty certain the same could be said of you too. You and I both know you didn’t get that president’s patch for running a weekend bake sale.”
Grudge steps right up into my space, and I’m forced to lift my head to meet his eyes. “You want to talk about earning shit?” He slaps the patch on his chest, his voice low and lethal. “I earned it. Same way I earned that prison sentence. By doing the right fucking thing.”
The air between us snaps tight.
“I went to prison for you, Luce. And you didn’t visit like you promised. You didn’t write every day like you said you would. In fact, you didn’t even wait until the ink was dry on my sentence before signing the divorce papers.”
That hits.
Because it’s true.
My stomach flips, and the cheesecake I ate sits like lead in my stomach.
But I saw those pictures in court. The evidence presented that showed the extent of my attacker’s injuries. I bore witness to just how violent Grudge could become because of me, and for the first time ever, I wished for a different life and outcome for both of us.
Even if my father hadn’t made me the offer he had, I would still have had concerns.
And yet, it’s an unfair world where the man who assaulted me got away scot free and yet, the man who defended me did hard time on my behalf.
Plus, there has always been a whisper of reputational damage that has followed me around for even accusing the man who assaulted me, rather than on him for thinking my pretty minidress that sparkled was an invitation to shove his hand beneath its hem.
History binds us, and my heart wants to believe that Grudge has always done the right thing. That the boy I once knew is somewhere buried in the man standing in front of me.
My throat tightens, but I can’t let him see he’s getting to me. “Don’t rewrite history. You put him in the hospital. Nearly killed him.”
“Should have killed the fucker, but I didn’t. And you obviously picked a side to believe.” The muscle in his jaw twitches. “A man shouldn’t go to prison for protecting what’s his.”
I flinch, because the way he looks at me…it’s as if I still am.
His nose wrinkles in disgust at the silk blouse I’m sweating through and the heels that pinch. It’s as if he can see right through the reputation I’ve carefully polished for a decade, and in that moment, I hate him for knowing just how much of it is armor.
“You were a coward, Luce. You fucking bailed.”
“You think you know me?” I snap.
His eyes drag down my body, slow and scorching. “No. But I remember who you were. And I see flashes of her still, no matter how hard you try to bury her beneath your fancy law degree and six-figure salary.”
